The subject matter herein relates generally to an electrical connector that has a guide element to facilitate mating with another electrical connector.
In some communication systems, an electrical connector is mounted along a leading edge of a circuit board to form a circuit board assembly. The electrical connector may be capable of transmitting electrical power, data signals, or both electrical power and data signals from and/or to the circuit board. The electrical connector includes a mating side that faces away from the leading edge and has electrical contacts arranged therealong. The electrical contacts engage corresponding electrical contacts during a mating operation.
During the mating operation, the circuit board assembly may be advanced in an insertion direction toward another electrical component. The electrical component that mates with the electrical connector may be, for example, an electrical connector of another circuit board assembly or of a backplane assembly. The mating side of the electrical connector faces in the insertion direction. Such circuit board assemblies typically include a guide mechanism that aligns the electrical connectors during the mating operation. For example, a guide post or pin of one electrical connector may extend in the insertion direction and may be inserted into a guide cavity of the other electrical connector.
Although the electrical connectors may operate suitably for transmitting electrical current, the electrical connectors described above may have certain limitations that render them unsuitable or undesirable for some applications. For instance, the arrangement of the electrical contacts and the guide mechanism(s) may limit the available space along the leading edge of the circuit board. More specifically, known electrical connectors include two guide cavities that are located at opposite sides of the electrical connector with the electrical contacts located directly between the guide cavities. The guide cavities and the electrical contacts are at a common height or level along the mating side. As such, space along the leading edge that may otherwise be occupied by additional electrical contacts is, instead, occupied by the guide cavities.
Accordingly, there is a need for an electrical connector that is capable of suitably aligning with another connector while permitting a greater number or density of electrical contacts than known electrical connectors.